Gender Pioneers

Gender Pioneers is a record of a variety of gender-diverse people through history. Even though it can be sad to read, it shows how poorly they were usually treated, and what little resources were provided, as many were forced to turn to crime. Despite the often sad tones of the brief biographies, it is still a pleasure to read, as it goes to show that in many cultures it is unusual to limit people to simply two gender categories, and that as long as we have had writing we have had proof of the existence of gender-diverse people. We are not new, and we’re not going anywhere.

This is a short history book about transgender, intersex, non-binary, and other not cisgender people throughout history. Each brief biography is accompanied by an illustration of the subject. Many people are still under the impression that identifying as something aside from cis-gendered is relatively new. This book is the perfect collection to bust through that myth and provide readers with bits of many different individuals history. This book features strong and incredibly brave individuals and it was an absolute joy to celebrate their stories and the beautiful images that suit each individual.

Thank you so much to netgalley and publisher for providing an e-copy for me to leave my honest opinion. I was drawn to this title immediately and I couldn't be happier with the result and the knowledge gained from the relatively short amount of time it took to fully experience this book. This is one book I will turn to again for sure.

This is a short history book about transgender, intersex, non-binary, and other not cisgender people throughout history. Each brief biography is accompanied by an illustration of the subject. As the introduction mentions, there is often a misconception that being trans is a new thing, but it definitely is not.
I loved this book. History can be intimidating to read about, but this is an extremely accessible sampler with just a small amount of information on each person that you can use to research more if you want to learn about their life or time period in more detail. And it was really nice that there were illustrations with each page.
I am so grateful I got to read this book, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I'd recommend this one to people who want to venture into learning more about gender history but are overwhelmed by a more traditional textbook or theory book.

A beautiful look into the history of transgender and non binary people,

I learned so much from start to finish that I wouldn’t have otherwise learned.
The illustrations were also very well done.
It was very informative to learn about these transgender icons and I am so happy that I was able to read it. I will also definitely be reading more from this author in the future.